Andrea Rosebrock 
For leaving a dog in a house he abandoned, leaving it to die a horrible death of starvation and loneliness, Sean Phillip Sopoliga, 23, was sentenced to a measly 93 days in jail!
Just imagine how many days that poor dog suffered, wondering why he was abandoned, wondering where his beloved master was. Imagine the gnawing pains that were unrelenting hunger and thirst, never to cease, only to get worse with each passing hour, with each passing day. Think of that poor dog’s last hours, wondering what he could have ever done to be condemned to such a cruel and heartless sentence such as he was!
Just imagine a dog as beautiful and full of life and hope as the one pictured here reduced to skin and bones due to the selfishness and total lack of caring of one sick individual! Almost makes you sad to be a part of the human race!
All that remains of the black Lab are the claw marks across the cement floor and down the door of the basement.
Those scratches tell the story of Jack’s last days as he starved to death in a St. Clair Shores home, abandoned for more than a month by his owner.
Sean Phillip Sopoliga, 23, was sentenced Wednesday to 93 days in jail, two years of probation and 50 hours of community service after pleading guilty to a charge of crimes against animals, a misdemeanor.
He initially faced a 4-year felony charge, but that was reduced in the plea agreement.
That didn’t please Macomb County Circuit Judge Mary Chrzanowski.
“This was murder,” Chrzanowski said after making Sopoliga wait nearly an hour as she weighed whether to toss out his plea and force the case to trial. “An animal, in this court’s opinion, is no different than a child.”
Elliot Margolis, Sopoliga’s lawyer, said in court that his client is remorseful and seeing a therapist to deal with psychological issues.
Sopoliga had bought the home on Rosedale from his grandfather but never made a mortgage payment.
Instead of settling up with the bank, Margolis said, Sopoliga abandoned the house, leaving his belongings inside.
That included the dog.
In December, city workers came to the abandoned house to winterize it. When they went inside, they noticed a stench, said assistant prosecutor John Paul Hunt.
The dog was in a plastic bin in the basement. His decomposing flesh was swarming with maggots.
“He could have let the dog out in the community, and someone would’ve taken better care of it,” Hunt said.
Sopoliga’s ex-girlfriend identified the dog through pictures, according to police records. She said that she and Sopoliga bought the dog together in July 2004.
Sopoliga told Chrzanowski that he wasn’t thinking when he abandoned the house and left the dog trapped inside.
“I’m very sorry for the crime I’ve committed,” he said quietly.
The judge suggested Sopoliga spend his community service in an animal shelter. (Detroit Free Press)
This is why the laws for animal cruelty have GOT TO CHANGE! Someone can do something this horrific and basically get away with it… How you can cause such suffering… such torture… and get a slap on the wrist. It just blows my mind!
I think this lowlife creep should receive the same treatment he gave his poor dog. No food or water for a month, locked in a basement. This bastard should rot in hell.
I’m right with you there on that Chris and Gary! This disturbed me and made me sick…. just imagining what this poor dog went through. Why do punishments never fit the crime?? If he’ll do this to an innocent and defenseless living creature…. what’s next? What’s next?
Makes me want to cry…I will never in my lifetime get used to hearing these stories.
I am always amazed when animal abusers are sentenced to community service, working with animals! Makes no sense to me!
Caren, I agree completely and have in the past had discussions regarding this very issue. As a matter of fact with the commenter preceding you.
Why someone with a total antipathy toward animals would be sentenced to work around them, especially when many of them, living in a shelter situation, are already stressed, is just beyond me! Animals know when people don’t like them or fear them and the last thing they need is to have someone like this around them, possibly even in the position to abuse or harm them!
I do advocate strong and serious sentences for abusers but don’t feel that community service working with the very type of victim they abuse is very smart. To me it would almost be like sentencing a pedophile or child abuser to perform community service in an abused children’s home!
when u get out hopefully there are people wating for u. U PIECE OF TRAILER TRASH.